Dr. Funkenstein

Well that just complicated things, slightly. I remember talking with you about this before, giving you my details of my situation and this was never brought to my attention.

I've spent so many months planning this thing. I have the space I have. I don't have the time, nor the funds to build a self contained cab, within my grow space.

I'm trying to accomplish this with as little construction as possible, which makes venting into the attic a last resort. What if I were to drill a number of small eraser head sized holes in the space of the door, that sits directly infront of my exhaust opening? This would seem to me to be easier to repair than a 4"-8" hole in the ceiling?

I need ideas. Venting in the attic would be best, but I don't want to go that route. I was not planning for this, so I have not done any research to accomodate my specific needs.

How easy is it to repair a hole this size in a ceiling, and make it look like new? If I vent into the attic, wont this create a concentraed hotspot seen from FLIR up above?

How about keeping the door cracked while the lights are on, allowing easy exit for the hot air?

I'm going through the trouble of making sure it's stealth and quiet, I can't see how leaving the door wide open is going to help this.

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Japhy_Ryder

The purpose of this is to create a door you can punch holes in and lightproof for ventilation that you can tear down without a trace of it ever being there. I don't know how you thought the ventilation would work with another door closed and blocking off your ventilation points? This is mostly useful for closets and grow tents and the lights.. if you want that door to be shut off while converting this room, then you'd have to ventilate out of a different point or alter the exterior door.

You say you weren't planning for this.. well planning for ventilation is a must. As far as ceiling damage, minor damage to drywall can be patched up and painted easily enough, though if you're running piping up through the floor of your attic, I'd assume that'd be a lot of work and involve many more factors. I'm sorry I can't help you there as I've never had experience with something of that scale -- only minor alterations to ceiling drywall and studs.


I don't have a clear view of what your grow space looks like and what exactly you're working with. In the end only you can figure out and execute the construction of a healthy growing environment. As far as ventilation goes, plenty of airflow in, plenty of airflow out is the bottom line. Do what needs to be done to make that happen. You say you want an entire room to be a stealth grow but don't want any real construction work, well you might have to either 1. do more research and put in more work than you thought, or 2. downsize your grow in order to maintain stealth.

Good luck.

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and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
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Dr. Funkenstein

When I said I had not planned on this, I was speaking entirely on making holes in the ceiling and venting into the attic space. My questions alone should indicate I've done many hours of homework when it comes to this topic. As for my original idea, the door does not close off the exit points. There is about 5" of space between the PP door and the inside of the closet door. My set up is similar to the one in your pics. Exhaust at the top, intake at the bottom.

My theory is that since hot air rises, the bulk of it would hover in that 5" deep space, as its drawn down from the negative pressure of the intake, mixing in with the fresh intake air coming from the large crack at the bottom of the door.

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Futuregrower

Thanks for the help with PP, Japhy, I'm planning something like this for my closet.

And a quick note to the renters out there- if you want to make a large hole in a wall/ceiling and make it look like new, be forewarned, it is very difficult for the average person to work with sheetrock mud and make a hole disappear. It will still show, lots of times. If you cut anyway, painting the whole closet once repairs are made will help.
in other words, plan a good excuse for if your ex-hole gets found when you move out, and maybe be prepared to forgo your security deposit.

Excellent post on DIY PP!

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Japhy_Ryder

@ FG -- Thanks for the 411 regarding altering a rental's ceiling/drywall.


@ Funk: Ok, I have a better idea of what you're working with. Since it's a closet door I'd assume you have more freedom in altering it. Yeah I'd just say either leave it open a bit, or if you can't, alter the door itself. Leaving a gap at the top could work. The key is just getting as much airlfow as possible.

I'm actually working with a similar situation, though on a larger scale. I'm going to be working with a bedroom that has a door (duh) and a single window. I will most likely either build a grow tent-like structure using PVC pipe inside the room to hand PP around, or, more likely, I'll section off the room using sheets of PP hanging from the ceiling/attached to walls. If it ends up being large enough, I may just leave all that out of it and simply use PP to line the walls of the room and section off the window/door area.

Since it will be a rental I can't tap an exhaust through the ceiling or wall, and I'll be working with at least 1600 watts from the start, most likely moving on to 2K+ down the line, so I'll be needing to move a lot of air. The easiest way I think would be using the window as the intake, and exhausting into the house by altering the door. However it'd be much better to keep it all a self contained unite, and exhausting from a sheet of PP with a space in front of the door, like in your situation, will leave a pocket of hot air with nowhere to go.

The other option is exhausting out the window but if it's on the first floor I'll have to worry about noise, and of course carbon filtration will be a must. It's a tricky situation, and one that will only be able to be fully assessed once I have the room in question in front of me. I'm hoping to able to grab a space on a second story.

Alternatively both the exhaust and intake could be rigged into the same window.. but that would tricky.


Just thinking out loud..

__________________


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and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
-- Henry David Thoreau



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Futuregrower

Dr Funk, How about this- if you end up venting into the attic above, that 6" circle is going to show once you move. Is there an existing light fixture you can remove? Close off the wires, make your hole bigger, then put it back when you move. Or, simply add a light fixture, no wiring. Choose a spot it looks like someone might have put a light fixture, cut your hole and vent.
When you move, just put the fixture up there.Don't worry about wiring it is just for show. Most landlords can't remember every little detail of a closet, I doubt you're gonna hear " hey who put that up?" and if you do, just tell em it was always there.
or, what about a heating vent grate? Get em at the big box hardware store. Looks a little weird, but apartments have lots of weird shit sometimes. This will cover a hole and make it go away.
If you do that, you can make it look more real with a few dabs of paint, seems like every apartment I've ever seen someone painted around fixtures badly.

Edit- lots of eraser size holes may be even harder than 1 big hole to cover. Also, you get less airflow in the same area.

Vent into the attic, if you can, but go slow on the hole, see what's up there first. Sometimes people put a pipe where no pipe should ever be. or a wire.

__________________
~~ The Once And FutureGrower
The futures here, we are it, we are on our own....Singing Ashes, ashes all fall down......

"I inhaled, frequently," Senator Obama said before being elected President "That was the point."

First Grow! Twofer, Mandalas "Satori" and KC Brain's "Northern Lights Special"
http://www.gardenscure.com/420/hydro...kc-brains.html

Caution! (Do not stop on tracks). Grow 2

LINK to a great way to search, written by Burndt